I went to Stuttgart, Germany this past week to visit some relatives. Stuttgart is the home of Mercedes-Benz and I believe Porche has a factory there also. It seems Mercedes-Benz has some serious management and financial problems at this time. My cousin is a program manager for one of their sections and was telling me some things that are unbelievable.
Their management is afraid to make any difficult decisions so they don't do anything at all. They freely admit competitors like Lexus and have already bypassed them in technology and quality; the only way they can catch up to them is if Lexus slips back to them. They believe it will take at least 10 years to restructure in a way that will make them profitable again. For the past several years only their Chrysler and truck divisions have been profitable. They are starting to turn towards the Chrysler business model to gain back their customers and reputation. The Germans are saying the best quality luxury German vehicle right now is Audi.
Sure sounds like they are heading in the same direction as General Motors. This is rather sad considering Mercedes-Benz used to be the standard that all other automobiles were compared to.